3 Chapter 3

[MC POV]

° Greek Dojo

° Late Afternoon

Now, as a teenage boy who's growing up, I need some sort of way to have income and get my body moving. And on that point, I was lucky again. Mady's family runs a dojo called the 'Greek Dojo' not that far from school and has a lot of students.

The golden opportunity was too tempting to ignore and so I forced my parents to enroll me in said dojo years ago, specifically 5 years ago, where I learned the art of martial arts in full from Mady's mother, Thena.

Greek. Thena. Either someone was starved for names or Mady's family was very proud of their Greek ancestry.

Mady stood in front of me, wearing her karategi with a black belt on her waist area. Arms held out and fanned herself as we finished a few rounds of one on one sparring.

As for me, I wore only a simple sleeveless shirt with a pair of black jogging pants. A black belt tied on my waist.

"You didn't bring yours?" she asked.

"No, unfortunately. My mom's the one who handles the laundry in the house and she says it's still wet. Hence the work out clothes"

"Right" she said.

She looked pretty great in her karategi, but she looked better all sweaty and unreserved. I couldn't stop myself from looking, and I'm sure she was quite aware.

"You know, Matt" she suddenly said.

"Hmm?"

"I've never liked guys much, but I do like you" she said, looking at me in a very strange and awkward way.

"Uh-huh. Sure"

What was happening? Is she pranking me or something?

"I like you because you're different from all the boys our age. Especially when Mark is compared to you, youre just so different" she said, walking towards me and putting her hand on my hair.

I got confused by what she was doing.

"What are you--" I tried asking but she had other ideas.

"Don't misunderstand. I know how horny guys get, especially in our age--"

"What?"

"I'm just saying that I like you. I like having you around, so if youre thinking of saying something to ruin that then..." she trailed off.

But I understand, more than enough.

"I...wasn't thinking of anything like that though?"

She gave me this look that all but stated that she didn't believe what I just said.

"Matt, it's okay. I don't mind at all, it's natural for all boys your age" she said.

"Natural to what? Watch you sweating like a pig?"

"Yes, sweating like--what--How dare you!" she somehow went through a series of emotions that confused her, which ended up in a rage.

She thought she could put me on a spot with that ridiculous little demo, she was wrong...Partially.

Still, compared to me, she is much easier and more interesting to tease.

She pushed me until I was on my back, sat on my stomach, and proceeded to pester and then tickle me in revenge.

Contrary to the height difference of 1.5 ft and the weight difference, she was quite strong. But the biological difference made my victory over that tickle revenge inevitable.

I lifted her off my stomach and tickled back.

Seeing her struggle like that was amusing, but I couldn't stay for long. It's 5 pm, and someone was already flooding my phone with text alerts.

No doubt it's mom sending me another 'I'm gonna be late, honey' text, my signal to prepare dinner ahead of time just in case.

I put Mady down on the floor and went to the dojo's bathroom for a quick shower and change of clothes.

Then, I went to work cleaning all around the dojo itself before I left. Such was the part-time job.

Got to work quickly and gathered up all the trash into one black plastic bag to throw to the dumpster by the street. I carried about 3 sacks worth of trash and dead leaves, which was quite heavy already.

And then I noticed something odd.

Just as I grabbed unto the lid of the dumpster to lift it open, my hand just squeezed through the metal like it was clay.

*metal twisting*

The sound of metal bending into a thin and odd shape was unmistakable, and when I took out my hand from it it was stuck like that. All twisted and broken.

I look at my own hand, then back to the bend, and then back to my hand again. Before smiling.

"About time that happened" shaking my head.

Gingerly, I opened up the lid as lightly as I could and placed all the suddenly weightless black bags of trash inside without even trying at all.

I got a little bit excited over the fact that my powers finally kicked in that I couldn't help but think of trying to test it out more before I went home.

And since the dumpster was here, why not?

With just on hand below the massive thing, I managed to lift it all without breaking a sweat. So this is what it feels like to have Super-Strength.

Cool!

The filthy trash and liquids that were from it weren't so cool though, but still!

Now this is a good reveal for family dinner.

****

I met up with Mark on our way home and could wait to show him about it, only to find out that he finally had it too!

He demonstrated it by lifting an entire broken car over his hand, with just one hand!

We decided soon after trying to lift a few more heavier things, for a few more times, that we needed to tell dad about it right away.

So, when we arrived back home we immediately set about getting ready for all of it.

By the time dinner was set upon the dining table, we were already prepared.

We walked into the dining room with mom preparing the last dish to complete all 4 meals for us tonight. Chicken, my favourite.

"A big welcome home for my favourite boys" she said.

I smiled in reply as I took my seat right beside Mark.

"I made some chicken, Matt's favourite, but I also heated up some authentic German bratwurst flown in special today just for you, Mark" Mom said.

"Thanks, mom" Mark replied.

"Thanks, mom"

"You're very welcome" she said, sitting down in front of us.

I was just about to dig in when I felt Mark's shoes hitting the sides of mine. He signalled me that it was time and started first.

"So...I had...a pretty interesting day" Mark said.

"Me too"

*whoosh*

Dad came in the room in a blur motion and color, as well as a small gust of wind that followed. Mom caught a wine glass just as it was about to fall over because of the wind.

"Sorry I'm late" Dad said to mom as he gave her a kiss to her cheek.

"Honest to god, a dragon was attacking Hong Kong. I stopped it" Dad quickly summed up his entire adventure.

"Oh, a dragon. Nice" Mom replied with a smile of pride...and of something else that I didnt want to give a name to.

"Anyway, the boys were getting to tell us how interesting their day went" Mom also summed up what happened.

Dad looked at both of us, giving us his full attention.

Mark glanced at me, I nodded knowing what he meant by it.

"Guess who's getting their powers!!" Mark happily said.

Both mom and dad were surprised, but with a different after emotion. Mom seemed more happy and proud about the news, while Dad became...oddly serious as he heard it.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking so grim and serious.

`Its finally time...`

There it was again, that voice. And from the sound of it, it was Dad's voice. In my head. It sounded happy but his face said otherwise.

Perhaps he was holding it in? He was a silent type of person.

"Pretty sure. Threw a trash bag to space at work" Mark explained his experience.

Dad looked at me.

"Yeah, Dad. I lifted a full dumpster with only 3 fingers near the Dojo, didn't really throw it though"

Dad continued to stare at us in silence. I couldn't tell what he was thinking and also couldn't hear more of those voices as the silence very quickly turned awkward.

Luckily, Mom came in to the rescue. I could see her stare at him angrily, followed by the sound of someone hitting a very sturdy leg.

Dad's facial expression changed to that of enthusiasm just a second after.

"That's great, you two. Just great! If you want, I'll make some time tomorrow for training" Dad offered.

'Just Great'? That's it? The man has been practically begging for it to happen and this is all he reacts with?

"This is so exciting!" Mom happily said.

Now THAT is a great reaction. I look to dad who seemed to be still out of it, acting weird.

"Bright and early tomorrow, boys. Make sure you get some good night sleep tonight" Dad said.

"Ha! For sure!" Mark replied, grinning at all the praise.

"Sure dad!" I merely smiled.

****

Early sleep, my ass.

If I'm learning some alien superhero things tomorrow, I want to get ahead of my brother and practice for a few hours before I sleep.

I sneaked out of my bedroom window after making sure it was quite and stood on the roof of my house. Looking over the large array of houses and to the sky above me.

It was a clear and surprisingly bright night, the moon providing most that light along with the bright outdoor lights of most of the houses around.

Remembering that I was in the same place with Dad and Mark so long ago, I reassured myself that I could do what I wanted to do.

To fly like dad did.

As I remember it, Dad explained his 'Flight' power in a very simple way. He could 'push off' from just about anything, creating leverage out of nowhere.

With that in mind, I stood in place and closed my eyes.

From what I understand, I simply need to 'want/will' myself to go a certain direction upwards and stay there.

As I prepared myself, I heard the window open from the side.

"Matt? What are you doing here?" Mark walked out of it, in his pajamas and not much else.

Asking the obvious.

"Same as you, I think. Getting some late night practice in to impress dad tomorrow morning"

"Oh" was all he replied with as he prepared himself too.

I went back to concentrating, closing my eyes and willing my body upwards. Imagining it slowly floating above the roof and into the air.

And just like that, as I opened my eyes, I was already 5 meters above Mark. Freely occupying the empty space in the sky.

"How did you do that?" Mark asked loudly.

I shushed him quickly, "Do you want to wake up Mom and Dad, you idiot!?".

Mark closed his mouth and subsequently jumped over the edge of the roof, closing his eyes to concentrate. He stopped in the air, floating in the space in front of him.

"Haha! This is so cool!" He said.

"Again, man. Don't be so lo--"

Suddenly, Mark accelerated and shot himself up the sky. Flying higher and higher until he seemed so small, all in such a short moment.

And me, not willing to be outdone by my own brother, followed after him. Willing myself up and matching my brother's speed.

The air suddenly became really thin when I reached about a certain height, where I could only manage to make out the small specs of lights that was our house, and so as a precaution I took a deep breath in before I continued flying after Mark.

We passed through where the clouds gathered around, looking like white colored cotton candy freely floating around the sky, before Mark panicked.

Stopping right in front of the flight path of a passenger plane.

I accelerated as hard as I could, grabbing and pulling him out of the way before he did a Brightburn accidentally.

I took him high and far enough before I let him go, by which time he was already hyperventilating. Which was not good in this level of the atmosphere.

His eyes were already starting to close from the lack of oxygen.

I flew us both back down to a more manageable atmospheric level, and waited for him to wake up.

When finally he did, he acted all confused.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Remember in Physics Class? The higher up the atmosphere you go, the less oxygen you have?"

"Oh. Right. Thanks for the save. But how did you--"

"I took a deep breath before I flew after you"

"Oh. That's smart" he said, taking in a breath as if reminding himself by reflex.

"Looks like despite being half-Viltrumite, we're still human. Lack of Oxygen can knock us out good"

"Apparently" he sighed.

I patted his shoulder, "C'mon man, we still have a few hours before 12 AM. Let's race around the neighborhood".

"Got it. On 3?" Mark asked.

I smiled and already flung myself ahead before he could even react.

"Hey! That's not fair!" I heard him say as he flew after me.

And that's how we spent most of the night before midnight. Flying all around and above the neighborhood a few times before I went to bed first, feeling exceptionally tired from flying.